


Christmas In Stillwater

by Jacie



Category: NCIS
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Dinner, Christmas Movies, Christmas Presents, Holidays, Home, M/M, Sledding, Small Towns, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21954325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jacie/pseuds/Jacie
Summary: Gibbs realizes Tony doesn't have plans for Christmas and decides to take him home to Stillwater to spend Christmas with Jackson.
Relationships: Anthony DiNozzo/Jethro Gibbs
Comments: 34
Kudos: 213





	Christmas In Stillwater

**Author's Note:**

  * For [geminiangel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/geminiangel/gifts).



> For Geminiangel - Many thanks for participating in this year's Happy Holidays Challenge and for completing all 24 advent prompts! I hope you have a Fabulous Holiday Season and a wonderful 2020!
> 
> Many thanks to Rose_Malmaison for the last-minute proofread!

When Abby stopped by the bullpen to wish everyone a happy holiday, Gibbs relented, and allowed his team to leave early. Bishop and McGee wasted no time in shutting down their computers, grabbing their things and racing to join Abby in the elevator, all while wishing Gibbs and Tony a very Merry Christmas. 

It didn’t escape Gibbs that Tony was still busy working. “You, too, DiNozzo. Get out of here.”

Tony slowly looked over to him. “I wanted to finish the report while it’s still fresh in my mind.”

“Okay. Are you spending Christmas with your father?”

Shaking his head, Tony quietly replied. “No, he met some wealthy lady who offered to take him to Amsterdam for the holidays.”

“So you have no plans?” Gibbs asked. 

“Don’t rub it in,” Tony said sullenly, his head down as he focused on his report.

“You’re coming with me to Stillwater. I won’t take no for an answer.” 

Before Tony could get a word out, Gibbs was on the phone to his father, letting him know to make room for one more. The way it was snowing, Gibbs was anxious to get going before it got too late in the day.

When they were finally ready to go, Gibbs followed Tony back to his apartment, then waited in his pickup truck while Tony went to pack. He rolled his eyes when he saw Tony lugging two suitcases, a garment bag and a small duffel bag. 

“We’re only going to be there for a couple of days,” said Gibbs.

“It’s Christmas! I have some gifts for you. And it’s freaking cold. I wanted to be sure I had enough warm clothes.”

“And a suit?”

Cupping his hands, Tony blew on his fingers to warm them. “I figured we’d be going to church.”

Gibbs smiled. Just for convenience, he kept a couple of suits, dress shirts, ties and a pair of dress shoes at his dad’s house. It saved him the trouble of having to pack and haul his dress clothes back and forth, and having to deal with wrinkles in his suits, shirts and ties.

It was well after dark by the time they arrived in Stillwater. Tony had nodded off but woke up when they arrived. Just like his son, Jackson’s door was unlocked. Gibbs carried in his single bag, while Tony gathered all of his belongings his together, barely able to fit through the door.

They found Jackson was still awake and was watching a _12 Angry Men_ , sitting in his recliner and covered with an afghan. A welcoming fire glowed in the fireplace. 

“Got some coffee on the stove if you boys are interested,” he said.

Without saying a word, Gibbs nodded, dropped his bag, and went to retrieve the coffee. He brought out a mug for himself and filled up his dad’s cup. “What about you, Tony? Coffee?”

“None for me, thanks. I’d be up all night.”

“Come on, I’ll show you the room upstairs so you can get some sleep,” Gibbs offered.

“You take it. I’ll stay on the couch.”

Gibbs glared impatiently, “Come on, DiNozzo. Dad made the bed up for you. Let’s go.”

Picking up his collection of bags again, Tony struggled up the stairs, behind Gibbs. At the end of the hallway, Gibbs entered a room and flipped on the light. Tony was right behind him. 

“Bunkbeds!” he exclaimed as he looked over the set that appeared to have a full-sized mattress on the lower bunk and a twin on top. He admired the built-in staircase to the top bunk, where each step appeared to double as a storage box. “It’s really nice. Does this mean we’re sharing a room?”

“Yeah. I didn’t have any siblings, but I occasionally had a friend spend the night. Dad built it. It was one of the first projects I helped him with, but he designed the whole thing. I mostly sanded and stained,” he said as he lovingly rubbed his hand across the headboard.

Tony glanced around the room, looking at the model cars, boats and all the books. “Just what I thought your childhood room would look like. Although, I am surprised your bed isn’t carved into the shape of a boat.”

Gibbs chuckled and set his bag onto the only chair in the room. “Take whichever bunk you want. The bathroom is free if you want to wash up and brush your teeth.”

“Thanks, Boss. I appreciate you bringing me along. I wasn’t looking forward to spending another Christmas alone.”

“Good night, Tony.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

The next morning, Tony was surprised that both Gibbs and Jackson had beat him downstairs as he had been the first to go to bed and had fallen asleep in less than ten minutes. Looking out the window, he saw several inches of fresh snow had fallen throughout the night, and now glistened in the early morning light.

Once again, a fire roared and crackled in the fireplace. Seeing three stockings hanging above the fireplace made him smile. He was surprised to see his name on one of them. The lights on the tree were turned on and twinkling. He admired the old ornaments as he set his packages beneath the tree. A smile crossed his face when he saw that a couple of presents under the tree had his name on them.

He found Gibbs and Jackson in the kitchen, listening to the news on the radio, reading the paper and each enjoying a strong cup of black coffee. “Good morning and Merry Christmas,” he said cheerfully.

They both smiled at him, and Jackson began preparing a large breakfast for the three of them. He made French toast, along with bacon and eggs, served with orange juice and piping hot coffee. It was a jovial beginning to the day.

When they moved into the living room, Gibbs handed out a stocking to each of them. Tony dumped his out to find fruits, nuts, assorted candies, a glass Stillwater paperweight and a new knife. “How in the world did you get a stocking with my name on it last minute?”

“I sell them in my store,” admitted Jackson. “I’ve done so many stockings over the years, I’ve gotten pretty good at adding the names. I’ll bet most people in town have a stocking with my handwriting on them.” His smile beamed with pride.

Tony hadn’t even thought that it could have been that easy. “I appreciate it. I haven’t had a stocking in years. This reminds me of when I was a kid and coming downstairs to a full stocking on Christmas day.”

Leaning closer, Jackson whispered, “The secret to staying young at heart is to always enjoy the things you enjoyed as a child. Never lose that. Never get too old to have fun.”

“Wise words, Jackson. Thank you.”

Jackson kept them entertained with stories of his youth, while Gibbs handed out the presents. The two men were surprised that Tony had managed to bring wrapped gifts for each of them on such short notice. Tony was thrilled when he opened his gifts, a pricy-looking sports watch from Gibbs and a warm sweater with deep pockets from Jackson, along with a nice scarf. 

“Now I understand why you were lugging around an extra suitcase,” said Gibbs. He unwrapped the bigger package from Tony to find four large, flat slabs of wood, and a smaller one that turned out to be a case of chisels. “These are amazing, thank you, Tony.”

“You’re welcome. I know you can do beautiful carvings. I thought it would be nice if you carved some pieces you could put on the wall or something.” 

“These will certainly do the job,” Gibbs said as he inspected the chisel set.

“I bought them at an artist supply house. The guy promised they were topnotch.”

“He wasn’t lying about that.”

They watched as Jackson opened his two packages from Tony. One contained homemade snickerdoodle cookies. The other was an old snow globe, depicting a young man carrying a freshly cut Christmas tree through the snow. “Why, this is fantastic. I love it.”

“I found it in an antique store and it made me think of you. I figured I’d give it to Jethro sometime and he could bring it to you. I’m glad I was able to bring it in person.”

“It puts me in mind of my younger years. It’s not that I don’t have regrets, but I do my best to focus on the times that brought me joy. This reminds me of pleasant times, chopping down a tree and bringing it home for Christmas. Thank you, Tony. I will treasure this always.”

After all the gifts were opened, Gibbs and Tony washed the dishes from breakfast, while Jackson began putting together for Christmas dinner. Wanting to get out of his way, Gibbs suggested that he and Tony gear up in their warmest clothing and go out for a long walk.

Tony was amenable and returned upstairs to dress in layers, boots, along with a coat, hat and scarf. His efforts brought a smile to Gibbs’ face. Minutes later, they set out on their walk.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

The pair walked through the town, and enjoyed seeing all the decorations. Each shop and restaurant had twinkling lights and holiday greetings, even though they were closed.

“Thank you for inviting me, Boss.”

“Tony, it’s Christmas. We’re not at work.”

“I know that.”

Reaching out, Gibbs rested his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “You can call me Jethro.”

Tony’s grin lit up his features. “Okay, Jethro.”

As they continued their walk around town, Gibbs noticed how Tony seemed fascinated by watching the kids sledding down a large hill. 

“Allerton Hill,” said Gibbs.

“What?”

“That hill. It’s called Allerton Hill. It used to be a farm owned by the Allerton family a couple hundred years ago. It’s the city park now.”

“Interesting. Any Allertons still around?”

Gibbs shook his head. “Not for over a century. One of them was the first mayor. As mayor, he donated the family farm as a park.” 

“And then they all moved away.”

“Or died off. I’m sure Mildred, our librarian, could tell you in painstaking detail.”

As they continued their walk, Tony kept glancing back at the kids laughing and sledding. “This is so different than my Christmases. I was always expected to be quiet. As an only child, I had no one to play with on Christmas day.”

“I’ll bet you never got a sled.”

Tony’s eyes dropped to the ground. “No. I asked for one, but Dad thought they were undignified. I got skates once. Mom would take me skating sometimes. After she died, I was lucky if Senior was even home for the holidays.”

Pulling Tony to a stop, Gibbs wrapped him in a strong hug. “I’m sorry. It must have been so lonely and depressing as a child.”

“I hated the holidays,” Tony confessed. “When I was at boarding school, all the other kids couldn’t wait to get home. They’d tell me about having friends and family over, getting to play with their new toys and games. I’d get clothing, suits and books. If we had anyone over, it was people my dad had business with. They would get drunk and talk about business deals. I was expected to stay quiet.”

“That’s terrible. We’d usually go to my grandparents’ farm, so I was around my grandparents and cousins for Christmas. It was always a happy time for me.”

“I’ll bet you got to go sledding.”

The memories brought a smile to Gibbs’ countenance. “Oh yeah. My cousins and I would go sledding for hours. And we didn’t have a hill half as good as Allerton Hill.”

Returning to the house, they shared a large meal, featuring a turkey and all the accompaniments. They ate early in the day, as Jackson said he had more than enough food for two hearty meals.

After the meal, Jackson slept in his recliner while _White Christmas_ with Bing Crosby played on the television.

“Need a nap, DiNozzo?”

Tony grinned. “We’re not at work, so you can call me Tony. And no, I’m good. What did you have in mind?”

Gibbs crooked his finger and walked out the door. Tony followed behind him, making sure to close the door. They went into the large storage building behind the house, that was used both as a garage and for storage. Tony was curious as to what they were doing out there, but trailed behind Gibbs to the back of the massive building.

It took a few minutes of digging, but Gibbs eventually came across a couple old wooden sleds with metal runners. 

“Are those from when you were a kid?”

“Yep.” 

After getting them untangled from the other items, Gibbs handed one to Tony and nodded to the workbench. There, he took a good look at each sled and began tightening them up, while he put Tony to work cleaning the rust from the blades with steel wool. After a little bit of work, he stood back, satisfied. 

“Let’s go,” he said, as he grabbed one of the sleds.

“Go? Go where?”

“Allerton Hill! I’m going to take you sledding, Tony.”

“Me? I’ve never been sledding. I don’t know how…”

Gibbs wrapped an arm around Tony’s shoulder. “You’ll pick it up. Gravity does most of the work anyway.”

Using the attached ropes, they each dragged one of the sleds as they walked side by side. The snow began falling, but only slightly. It only made the scene more entrancing. 

At the top of the hill, Gibbs gave Tony a quick lesson in how to operate the sled, with a warning to avoid other sledders as much as possible. For the next hour, they used the sleds, got into a snowball fight and made snow angels.

“It’s nice to see you happy,” said Gibbs. 

“Thank you for such a wonderful time. I’ve had so much fun today.”

“You remember what my dad said to you?”

“About always enjoying the things I enjoyed as a kid?

Gibbs gave Tony a light head-slap. “ _Never get too old to have fun_. Don’t forget to have fun in your life.”

After a couple more sled runs, the pair began their walk back to Jackson’s house. When Tony slipped and fell on a slick hill, Gibbs chuckled and offered him a hand. Tony pulled Gibbs down with him, and they rolled down to the bottom of the hill, landing covered in snow, freezing cold and beside their sleds. Their eyes met for a few moments, then they each leaned in for a kiss. One kiss led to another, until they were wrapped in each other’s arms and laughing together. 

Eventually, they stood up, dusted off the snow and continued their journey back to Jackson’s house, knowing a hot meal and warm fire were waiting for them.

After eating, Jackson cleaned up and turned in. Tony made popcorn and mulled cider. He and Gibbs sat on the floor leaning against the couch, covered in a single afghan and watched _It’s a Wonderful Life_ together.

~The End~

© 2019 by Jacie

12/24/2019


End file.
